|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
Bingley>>>>
there was no source of English language reading material near to hand so re-reading the books I had brought with me was all there was.
You actually lived (or close to it)that oft-heard game "if you know you are going to be cast away to an island, with no hope of being rescued, which 12 books will you take with you?" or some such scenario. WoW!
Of course there's AWAD these days, so who has time to read books for the first time
Alas, and indeed what's a book to do.
chronist
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Well it was more like 120, but I suppose it was a bit like that, yes.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Books I have read more than once :
It will be a Classic for future generations : Louis de Bernieres -"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" in my UK edition, called simply "Corelli's Mandolin" in US. (Soon to be a major motion picture coming to a theater near you, or so I hear.)
Jack Finney - "Time and Again."
Arthur Meeker Jr. - "The Ivory Mischief" the prefatory note reads : "None of the characters in this novel is imaginary." Copyright 1941 The Riverside Press Cambridge Mass. It is an historical novel and was my intro to the genre.
When I was young I read "Jane Eyre" several times. Later I came to appreciate "Wuthering Heights" (and better understand all that naughty stuff between Cathy and Heathcliff)
I have three shelves of Hawaiiana which I go to when the Islands call to me : "Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii" is a good one to dip into at random --Von Tempski's "Born in Paradise" is the true story of a young woman growing up in the 1930s -- and for history, dates etc - "The Queen's Story" and "The Betrayal of Liliuokalani" -- and a book of Hawaiian sayings.
Now as to "if you know you are going to be cast away to an island, with no hope of being rescued, which 12 books will you take with you?"
Top of the list would be "A Guide to Practical Shipbuilding."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
|
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
wow
For somebody who looks up to her elders (age here is reckoned by the number of books read, and reread) for guidance, I sure have many to look up to. I am impressed by your list. Except for the Brontes, all are new to me.
chronist
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
wordcrazy :
OH! I could write a three page post about those books. What a treat you have ahead! You may have to search for a used copy of "Ivory Mischief" ...and as for "Time and Again" !!!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
|
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
Do you know that Keats actually wrote a sonnet on this matter of rereading a classic? I just saw it today and I am thrilled. (Sorry, this is not the thread for "sublime rime" but the subject belongs to this thread, forgive me)
On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again
O golden-tongued Romance with serene lute!
Fair plumed Siren! Queen of far away!
Leave melodizing on this wintry day,
Shut up thine olden pages, and be mute;
Adieu! for once again the fierce dispute
Betwixt damnation and impassioned clay
Must I burn through; once more humbly assay
The bitter-sweet of this Shakespearean fruit.
Chief Poet! and ye clouds of Albion,
Begetters of our deep eternal theme,
When through the old oak forest I am gone,
Let me not wander in a barren dream,
But when I am consumed in the fire,
Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire.
chronist
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
889
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
